


325 kilometers

by royaldaehwi



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, The Parks™, all soft ladies, but shit it reached 6k words rip, cassette tapes are cute uwu, check it out ok, from my fmv heh :3, i swear theres no angst, i thought this would be just a short one shot, it took me too long to write lol dunno why tbh, just really cute college boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 10:21:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14518380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/royaldaehwi/pseuds/royaldaehwi
Summary: A pair of high school sweethearts enrolled in different universities but that doesn't stop them from seeing each other every week or so. Though, sometimes, plays and presentations definitely can.Written for myfmv. Please do check it out!





	325 kilometers

**Author's Note:**

> hi! im back and i'm serving jinhwi AND 2park (cheap as fuck tho lol). i'm currently writing a 2park fic and they're the main ship there, don't worry. happy reading!

  
Daehwi would feel a tiny bit happy with the sun greeting his eyes the moment he wakes up, but he couldn't even bring himself to move his arms, what more his mouth? He stares lazily towards his clock and his eyes trail to the frame beside it. It's a picture of him and Jinyoung, both in their school uniforms, a bouquet of beautiful pink and red carnations inside Daehwi's hands as they elegantly stand shoulder to shoulder. His arm that's previously drooping on the side of his bed make its way to the glass seprating the picture from his grasp. He smiles weakly, almost with pity, before muttering words with his morning voice.

"Just a few days more, Youngie,"

He blinks and sighs deeply, preventing tears from escaping his lids. His heart feels lonely and empty, he feels void without the older's arms encaging him, he feels as if his whole body fell into some endless chasm of sadness and desolation. He just misses him so, so, so much. He has no one to blame, though. Jinyoung chose a university specializing in training students to walk the actor path, which is in Busan, meanwhile, Daehwi chose one that would polish his musical abilities and maybe even make him an idol. The school, of course, is in Seoul.

They both know that this would be the outcome—them missing each other like crazy—but they still chose it, for the sake of their future. Yes, they do love each other so much, but love would never blind them, they would never let love be the reason for their downfall, for their broken future. And yes, Jinyoung would do good in the music track as much Daehwi would in the actor track, but this and that are completely different. Jinyoung and Daehwi have different specialties and they both chose different universities that they know would polish those said specialties.

"Daehwi! Come down, Jisung brought food," a voice booms from right outside his door. Woojin, he figures—wait, no. He's a hundred percent sure it's Woojin. He knows that voice all too well, even back from their childhood days. And if you're questioning as to why he's here, it's because he and Daehwi share an apartment together—housemates. The second loudest pair of housemates in the whole area.

Daehwi lifts the covers off of himself then finally gains the energy to let his feet touch the cold floor of his room. The matress sinks onto his weight as he stares for a good second on his wall clock before calling out Woojin.

"Hyung!" He starts, his voice slighty cracks in the middle. He then hears hush footsteps coming back, "Why are you up so early?" He stares at the door, waiting for the response.

"Ah, the team got a surprise call from the principal asking us to perform somewhere. Just go downstairs, I'll eat with you before heading out,"

Daehwi, half-asleep, nods to the voice. He stretches his limbs, a few cracks here and there, before reaching for the remote to turn off his air conditioning unit. Then, with a yawn, he puts it down and heads out the room to fulfill his stomach's desire to eat.

He takes each and every step carefully as he slowly descends to their kitchen area. Oh, and they're renting an apartment, a massive one—if the two floors somehow sparks up questions inside your head. It's handled by Woojin's mom, actually, so Daehwi gets a free living space being Woojin's cousin and all.

He scratches the sleepyness out in his eye as he heads towards the sink, "What did Jisung bring?" He asks with a turn on the tap, washing his hand thoroughly being the clean freak that he is.

"Bacon and eggs," he responds from the dining table, mouth stuff with food. Then shortly, he hears a large gulp before Woojin speaks up again, "Oh, and I cooked some rice,"

Daehwi lets the water on his hands drip first then splashes it off, carefully. He reaches the towel then pats it on, which, always gets the job done. He hums as a response, "And please, eat slowly. You might get indigestion,"

As if he jinxes it, Woojin starts to cough violently—choke, actually—and Daehwi, being the good cousin that he is, rushes to him with a glass of water in hand, holding his laughter in because Woojin just really looks ridiculous while choking.

"Here—" Woojin hurriedly grabs the glass, causing diminutive droplets to escape the glass' rim, and downs it in less than 5 seconds. Daehwi stands still, worry and disgust plaster on his face, as he watches the boy fight for air.

Daehwi sighs as he grabs the chair from beneath the table so that he can sit on it, "I told you to eat slowly, didn't I?" He places one palm on his chin while observing his cousin wipe the tears that came out from his near-death experience.

He coughs one last time, then shortly stands up to put his dish on the sink. Daehwi shakes his head before setting up a plate for himself. He raises the fork to pierce the poor bacon and just as the tip of the metal touches the meat, a memory travels through the metal and into his cortex and is currently playing as if his eyes are some nano projector screens.

_"Say ah~" Jinyoung says as he sways the spoon from side to side, holding onto Daehwi's chin._

_The boy, on the other hand, is too flustered to even look at him in the eye. Lately, Jinyoung has been so sickeningly sweet and Daehwi isn't quite used to his deep dark being too touchy and soft._

_Jinyoung takes his hand back and whimpers as if he's a puppy being left by his owner for good, "Won't Daehwi eat the bacon Jinyoungie made for him?" He pouts, although Daehwi doesn't see it._

_Daehwi slowly raises his head and peeks from his bangs and beyond his eyes he sees the pouting Jinyoung with the spoon still in his hand. He looks to the side to avoid his eyes but finally succumb to his antics (mostly because of the pout) and lets his jaw drop slightly but big enough for the spoon to fit._

_The boy's pout is replaced by a wide smile, an ear to ear smile, "Open wide, Hwi,"_

"Woah, you okay?" Woojin snaps him out of his short 'memory viewing' and Daehwi visibly unfroze himself as he takes the bacon home on his plate. "You dissociated for a minute, the fuck?" He continued, tone both confused and teasing.

Daehwi shrugs as he groups the bacon and a clump of rice on his spoon before taking it in his mouth. It's oily and slippery, but nontheless, it's delicious. Jisung really knows what to do inside a kitchen and it never fails to amaze Daehwi. One time, he cooked a pasta for the both of them and Daehwi didn't want to exagerrate but that was the best pasta his mouth had ever tasted. Of course, you have to share God's work, so they shared it to their megaphone (well, one of them) neighbours namely Jaehwan and Sewoon. Ever since then, the two never stopped pestering the poor working man into making the pasta over and over again. Jisung, along with his boyfriend, Sungwoon, lives in the same aprtment complex as them, though Jisung has already graduated and would take some small acting jobs here and there and maybe some modelling too. Sungwoon, on the other hand, is in his last year in college, the same college Daehwi, Woojin, and the two (one) loud neighbours goes to.

Woojin slings the bag that he previously placed on the counter and flattens his shirt with his hand, "I'm off now. I'll be back at around lunch time," he reaches for the knob but something stops him, "Oh, Jihoon said he and Jinyoung misses you a lot,"

Daehwi whips his head around the moment Jinyoung's name rolls out the tip of his tongue and is about to throw him a bunch of questions but the boy is already out the door. He smiles widely as he turns his head back, he feels so content knowing that, he too, misses Daehwi just as much.

As for Jihoon, he's Woojin boyfriend ever since high school, and he actually goes to the same university as Jinyoung. It's actually a funny story, them getting together. They were both too shy to admit their feelings even though they're already aware what the other feels, they only got the courage to finally confess to each other when Jinyoung declared his emotions for the one and only, Daehwi, hence them getting together.

Daehwi then finishes his food shortly after Woojin left. He washes his dirty plate while humming to a song he has recently been working on. It's actually a gift for Jinyoung when he comes to visit him again after about a week of absoluetely no contact—no hugs, no kisses, no soft cheek squishes. It's a pattern, them traveling to meet their boyfriend on the other side of the Korean map. Daehwi went last time and he brought cookies—heart-shaped— for both Jinyoung and Jihoon, though Jihoon was really hesitant to even take one incy bite because he feared that the cookies might be restricted for Jinyoung only. After Daehwi convinced him that it was okay, the boy munched almost half of the batch, leaving only crumbs for Jinyoung to look at.

The corners of his mouth starts to move up remembering the sweet thing Jinyoung had done before Daehwi catched the train back to Seoul. At the train station, Jinyoung pulled out a VHS camera, which had a letter inside, from Daehwi's paper bag (how did he even put it there without the boy noticing?) and flaunted it by waving the camera on the boy's face. Daehwi's reaction was priceless when he saw what was on his hand, Jinyoung wouldn't trade it for anything. Jinyoung knew how much Daehwi wanted a VHS camera so that they could film their dates and whatnot, but he had looked and looked everywhere but never found one that worked. Luckily, one of Jinyoung's classmate was selling his because he claimed that he needed funds for something. He didn't let the chance slip any further and bought it right away—though, he didn't eat for almost a whole week that time but it's okay, as long as Daehwi's happy. But when Daehwi heard about that from Jihoon, he scolded Jinyoung on the phone but the boy only chuckled shyly while his boyfriend went _forever_ onto lecturing him that he should never skip meals.

And ever since he got that gift and read the letter, Daehwi wanted to also give him a token of the same amount of effort (and maybe money) so here he is now, composing a song, a full song, as a form of gift to his boyfriend. But the song is just one half of it, the other half is already fulfilled and it's the Gundam figure Jinyoung always eyed whenever he comes around Seoul to visit Daehwi. Jinyoung didn't have enough money to buy it (props for the play, he reasoned out), but his parents do—though, Jinyoung made it clear that he wants to support himself without the help of his parents.

Speaking of the figure, it was limited edition so Daehwi really had to squeeze his wallet for it and that resulted to him not eating in almost a week and a half. Woojin then would bring him a sandwich at lunch and he really, deeply appreciated Woojin for doing that. They both kept it a secret from Jisung because seeing how he reacted on Woojin doing the same thing, except it's for Jihoon's stuffed bear, they swore on their life, they would never make Jisung mad and worried ever again.

When the water suddenly becomes unbearingly cold (their water is so weird like that), that's the only time Daehwi snaps out of his another episode of 'memory viewing' and realizes that he almost flooded their kitchen because the sink was so, so close to overflowing—he totally forgot that the drain is plugged.

He finishes his chore and shakes the water off his hands before drying it with a towel. After rearranging the chairs and maybe wiping off their dining table, Daehwi desecends to his room again.

Hours then passes by with him just flipping through his comic books, Deadpool, to be exact, when his phone suddenly plays the jigglypuff song, to let him know that someone is calling. He drops his book and stretched his upper body towards the side table to read the recipient. He takes no more time and immediately grabs the phone to answer the call. He settles his back on his bed's board before answering.

"Youngie!"

He hears a chuckle on the other line and perhaps, his heart may or may not be crying.

 _"How's my mochi doing?"_ His voice sounds rough, Daehwi figures it became like that because of his non-stop practice for their play that will be shown to the whole university. Although Daehwi really wants to come, he has a presentation due on the same day so he'll just clap his hands together and pray that Jinyoung won't let his nervousness take over him now that his role got upgraded into a supporting one (Jihoon in lead!) instead of just an extra.

"I'm doing super well, but now that I've heard you voice, I think I'm doing fantastic!" Daehwi purses his lips at his own statement and cringes just a tiny bit.

_"Oh? Are you trying to be the smooth one here?"_

Now, it's Daehwi's turn to pout, "Let me try!"

_"No, no, no. I'm mister smooth guy for a reason, Hwi,"_

Daehwi huffs and let out a tsundere 'hm!', "No fair,"

Jinyoung shakes his head on the other line, _"Have you eaten?"_

"Yep! Jisung brought us bacon," he says excitedly as he plays with the loose thread on his pillow.

 _"I like his cooking,"_ he pauses and Daehwi could honestly hear what he would reply, _"but I like you more,"_

He let air out of his nostrills and brings a hand to his temple, a knowing smile on his face, "Knew you were gonna say that," they both chuckle in perfect harmonization, "How about you? Have you eaten?"

_"I've had mangoes a while ago,"_

Daehwi's mouth form an 'o' accompanied by a small squeak, "I peeled mangoes yesterday!"

There's a deafening silence, though, not awkard, just a comfortable, second-long silence until Jinyoung fills the air with his usual deep and soft voice.

 _"Daehwi,"_ he starts again and stretches the last syllable as if asking a question, _"what happened?"_

He purses his lips in a thin line when he understands what Jinyoung means by that and he gives himself a mental face palm.

"Listen, I didn't injure my finger this time, okay?"

Jinyoung hums, _"Are you sure? Are you sure you're not just saying that to stop me from worrying?"_

"I-I'm sure," he stutters even though he is telling the truth and stuttering is never associated with telling the truth—well, except for Daehwi's case.

He could hear the usual creak of Jinyoung's bed in the other line, _"You stuttered so I guess you really are telling the truth,"_ another chuckle enters his ears but this time, it's low and a 'lil bit silent.

And yes, if Daehwi were to tell the truth when he's asked about something, he stutters and will look at anything but the speaker's eyes, but when he's lying, he speaks straightly and cleanly.

 _"Well, try to get some more sleep this weekend. I'll be off now to practice my lines,"_ there's a sudden change in his tone, as if he doesn't want to say that last line.

Daehwi whines. He doesn't want sleep, he wants Jinyoung.

 _"Come on, now. We'll see each other on Tuesday!"_ He beams happily causing Daehwi to smile ear to ear. _"So until then, I'll have to finish the play,"_

"You'll do great, Youngie," he balls his fist, "Fighting!" He says as his usual cheer whenever Jinyoung goes to play a role or take an exam.

Jinyoung, on the other line, clutches his chest and scrunches his face (as per usual), _"My cheering otter,"_ he says onto the phone, _"I'll leave now._

 _I love you,"_ he whispers in a deep voice and it sent chills from Daehwi's skin, down to his very bones. His deep voice just affects his system in an unexplainable phenomena.

"Love you more," he says, stretching out the last word and Jinyoung hums in response before Daehwi presses the red button.

When the screen turns off, he places the phone onto his chest and inhales deeply while closing his eyes, a smile spread across his face.

 

* * *

  
In a blink of an eye, the day finally arrives and Daehwi surely is happy, at least on the first few hours of the day. He woke up early from all his excitement bubbling inside his body. He got up with a smile on his face and walked towards the closet. He picked out clothes, an outfit—a pink knit sweater with a nude turtleneck to go underneath it. The place where they usually go to is always cold, sometimes it's freezing, even. Well, it's right beside the Han river so yes, that's an explanation on itself.

But, hours later, afternoon, he's still excited, but not really, not after he listened to the song. His level of panick are higher than that of his joy and excitement. Why? He's not so sure about the song he has composed—there's just one thing missing but no matter how hard he tries, he couldn't pinpoint it, and it drove him to panick.

He sits in front of his desk, both hands on his hair as they pull the strands in distress. On the table, at the center, lies a small, black, rectangular thing with two holes at the center, though, they have a distance from each other. A tape. That's what it is. Daehwi continues to stare at it as he pouts, as if staring would solve his problem. He groans in frustration as he shuts his eyes tight but before his body gives in to a whole fit, a knock is heard on his door.

"Daehwi? Jihoon said they might run a little late," Woojin says and at least that calm his nerves just a tiny bit.

He perks his head up and looks at the door, "Did he say why?" He responds with a voice void of any tremble or whatsoever, just monotonic.

There's a short pause before Woojin speaks again, "Uh... He said they started late so they'll also end late. But they're at the last act already,"

Daehwi turns back to his desk and turns his phone around so he can look at the screen. Beyond his eyes is a picture, him and Jinyoung, under a tree decorated with pretty fairy lights. The picture was taken on Daehwi's last visit, actually, at the Yongdusan park. Above the two figures on the picture is a clock and a small day and date indicator below it. The big characters flash a 2:39 PM and somehow, it calms him knowing that he still has time to perfect the song. But will he?

He inhales sharply once again, prep-talking himself. He still has more or less 3 hours to do this. He still has a spare tape on his drawer so yes, he can _totally_ do this.

An hour then passes by with him holding the mic close to his mouth, no sound, just pure silence. In his thoughts, the song itself is alright, almost perfect, even. But still, it's missing something and by every second that passes, it only frustrates Daehwi even more because he can't figure it out.

A message notification snaps him out of his trance and he sees the name of the sender. He scrambles to unlock his phone and to view the message.

As if animatically, his jaw drops as he eyes trail over the words. He stands up quickly, being coated by panic and anxiety because the sender, Jinyoung, has just told him that they've just finished the play and is on the way to ride the train.

He replies with a sweet 'travel safely^^ily' as if right now he isn't about to cry because of the song. He huffs in annoyance and throws the phone to his bed. Maybe the song's good enough? He really hates himself for saying this but maybe it is. He hates that he can't even produce a perfect song for him, that he can only give a 'good enough' piece to his boyfriend. He stomps towards his bathroom to take a long, hot shower, and maybe have an existential crisis while he's at it.

Succesfully cleaning himself in about an hour, he heads out of the shower. He's currently blow-drying his hair and maybe his thoughts were also being blown away with the wind from the contraption. From his bath to drying his hair, he couldn't stop thinking about the missing piece, the one, lost puzzle piece. He tries to come up with possible solutions, shutting the world out as he continues to dry his hair, but none of his ideas seem to fit his puzzle. He stays like that for a while until the hot air almost burns his scalp because 'lil dummy Daehwi stayed in the same position, unmoving, for about a minute or so. Hissing in pain, he turns it off. He heads out the bathroom and is now ready to put on his clothes, though his mind is still on that stupid song.

And here he sits in front of his desk again, all glammed up, all dressed up. He's ready to meet Jinyoung, he's all set, but his song? Not really. He checks the time for the nth time and there he sees that it's already 4:03 PM and the two may just be minutes away from their apartment. At this point, Daehwi has given up already, he just can't figure it out and he doesn't want to push himself more because he doesn't want Jinyoung to see him in a horrible state.

As if on cue, the sound of their doorbell resonates inside the whole apartment complex and Daehwi stiffens on his spot but quickly regains his senses as he scrambles to head towards his closet. The ringing continues but he pays no mind as he grabs the fairly large paper bag which has the Gundam figure hidden safely inside. He hears footsteps walking to their front door, Woojin, and at that he runs to his desk to hide the cassette recorder and the tape by piling a bunch of books on top of them, though, he makes sure not to put any of the heavy books as they may damage the tape. He also puts the paper bag right beside the unsuspiscious pile of books.

He skips towards his door and he stands his ground, facing it with both of his hands behind him, swinging on his toes and heels as he waits for the boy he misses the most (he momentarily forgets about the song and that's a good thing, right?). His enthusiasm rises higher when he hears the rushing footsteps going up, stopping right in front of his door. The person knocks three times and Daehwi smiles ear to ear when the door opens, revealing the boy he hasn't seen in weeks. Quickly, they both run to each other with a crushing hug, and Daehwi's heart grows softer the more the contact is on hold. Jinyoung breaks the hug and his hand travels to his face. He holds it in between his palms as he touches their noses together, a quick peck coming right after. Daehwi reddens and hides his face in his hands, the smile still on his face.

He hears the usual soft chuckles of the boy and his cheeks grow hotter and maybe redder. He only looks up when he remembers the gifts he's supposed to give to him.

"Oh!" He says, skipping towards his desk to grab the paper bag. He holds it in front of him but since the bag is big, it covers his whole face, "I've got a gift for you,"

Jinyoung walks closer and grabs the bag and Daehwi sees how his jaw drops, eyes widen, as soon as he sees what's inside. He sits on the floor and takes out the box from its bag and his jaw drops lower, it may even reach the floor any moment from now. As he continues studying each and every corner of the box, Daehwi crouches down in front of him and eyes him cutely, "Hyung, do you like it?"

The boy looks up at him with a mouth shaped in a small 'o' and slowly puts down the box beside him, causing Daehwi to look hella lost. He grins with his eyes closed before launching himself at him and encaging him in yet another bone-crushing hug. Thankfully, the force isn't that strong because if it is, they both might have fallen and Daehwi might hit his head on one of his desk drawers. Speaking of Daehwi, who has now a huge, huge smile on his face, buries his head on the older's neck and just snuggles comfortably while hugging him. He hears a faint, 'Yes,' behind him and he breaks the hug, looking down in a shy manner.

"How'd you even afford this?" He hears the boy ask and his head snaps up so freakishly fast.

He grows nervous but he doesn't show it. "I asked help from my parents," Daehwi says.

Jinyoung smiles wider and pushes no further because he knows that Daehwi's family is actually quite rich considering that they enrolled their son in one of Korea's top schools. Jinyoung is also enrolled in one of Korea's top school but that's not the topic right now.

They both hear a shutter, a sound they both know what caused it—phone camera. The two look at the door and yep, there the devils stand, each holding a phone to their chest.

Woojin speaks up, "Come on, love birds. We need to catch the bus soon," he says, holding in his laugh. Behind him is Jihoon, who looks like he's checking the candid photos he just took. The two head down, probably to the living room, but his eyes stay on where the two last stood.

"Let's go?" Jinyoung asks, waving a hand in front of Daehwi's face. He flinches at the sudden hand entering his vision but answers back anyway, "You go down first. I'll just fix my things," he says, smiling at him, just to add assurance. "Oh, and you can leave the figure here for now,"

He pats his head before standing up, heading out and closing the door. Originally, the plan was to ruffle his hair, but since he noticed that it's neatly fixed, he decided not to mess with it.

As soon as Jinyoung leaves the room, Daehwi stands up, the bag in his hands. He puts it down at where it originally was, beside the pile of books. He takes out the book one by one until he reaches the last one and alas, the holy tape reveals itself to him. He secures the tape inside its little case, just to protect it from possible breakage.

He grabs his belt bag hanging from his chair and puts the case inside, coming next is the cassette player, which he found miraculously on a garage sale. And thank God, it's not one of those massive players. Swinging the bag across his head and to his shoulder, he also heads out his room to go join the other three downstairs.

 

* * *

 

They all walk to the nearest bus station, which is actually just a 4-minute walk from their apartment. It's surprisingly cold even though Daehwi has two layers of long-sleeved shirts wrapping his body.

They're waiting for the bus and not even a minute by, it's already here!

"To the Han river, we go," Woojin announces as they all step inside the vehicle.

All of them goes in and picks the farthest seats, at the back. Jinyoung is the first one to go in, Daehwi in second, and the Parks last. But, when it's time to seat, Jinyoung moves away to let Daehwi sit first and that little act causes his heart to swell.

The bus lets out a 'whoosh' noise and moves forward. The trip is quiet, the comfortable kind of quiet. Jinyoung's holding his hand while Daehwi rest his head on his shoulder. Daehwi just watches the two in front if them as they bicker with each other and chuckles when Jihoon hits Woojin's head. He hears another laugh echoing his and he looks up to see Jinyoung also observing the dumb duo. Jinyoung looks down at him and boops his nose, causing him to bury his reddened face on the boy's chest. He even hears Jinyoung muttering 'So cute' under his breath. He feels the sudden weight on top of his head and he concludes that Jinyoung has lain his head there. Minutes, fast minutes pass by with them in that position and with the Parks still on their silly antics until the bus halts in front of the shed. The two in front were already walking out but the weight on his head isn't moving at all, much to Daehwi's confusion. He figures he has fallen asleep, I mean, acting for a whole play is surely tiring and exhausting. When he still hasn't moved, he takes it upon himself to wake him up—he taps his chest (which isn't that toned but still, it's buffer than Daehwi's) lightly and since he's a light sleeper, he wakes up straight away. He finally moves his head away with a yawn and Daehwi straightens up. Their eyes meet as Jinyoung stands, moving to the side to give space for Daehwi to walk out of. Giving him a smile that says 'thank you' and he strides away, Jinyoung behind him, holding his waist as if his life depends on it.

They get off the bus, only being greeted by two judgemental pair of eyes boring holes through them. Jihoon crosses his hands, "PDA much?"

"Shut up, Park!" They both say in unison and the Parks broke into a laugh.

The laugh dies down as quickly as it started, "Well, we're off now. We're just at the other side. Call us if something happens," Woojin states and grabs Jihoon by the hand before running away, literally.

Daehwi blinks, "Uh... That just happened. They're so weird,"

"Tell me about it," he breathes out. He turns to him and reaches his hand out, "Let's go?"

Daehwi takes it gladly, "Let's go,"

Jinyoung then walks hand in hand with him. Daehwi already knows where he's heading and his heart giddies up. He always take him to same spot every time he comes by for a visit—that lone tree by the side of the river. On the branches hang are light bulbs, illuminating a bright light which never seem to run out. They both feel as if... the place itself is special, as if it produces this romantic aura whenever they come to it.

Jinyoung sits down first then taps the space beside him, inviting Daehwi to also sit with him. Daehwi is in for some teasing so he sticks out his tongue at him as he scrunches his face. Jinyoung's face falls into shock and he starts blinking rapidly, assessing if he's seeing the right thing. When he sees the playfulness inside his sparkling eyes, he seizes the chance while Daehwi still has his eyes closed and grabs his hand, pulling him down. Daehwi's expression contorts into a shock as his weight gets drag down.

He's forcefully sat down by the sudden force yet he doesn't complain because their faces are now inches apart. He likes the distance, but he might lose his mind if ever the distance becomes skinnier so he has to find a way to somehow distract himself. His mind clicks and he remembers the tape.

"Hyung," he starts, opening the belt bag hanging on his shoulder, ironically, "I have something for you,"

Jinyoung raises a brow, "You do?"

Daehwi hands over the tape and Jinyoung takes it, examining it delicately. Next, he hands him the player as he inhales sharply, "I-It's still lacking something so I apologize in advance if it doesn't sound good. I'm just—"

As Daehwi rambles on, Jinyoung puts down the two gadgets, grabs his hand, and lifts his chin up, a typical cliché scene, "Listen, this will sound great, I know it. _My Daehwi_ only produces and radiates good things," he says with a smile as he cups his cheeks.

As Jinyoung takes one earbud into his ear, Daehwi can't help but feel anxious. Yes, he assured him about the song but he still can't help but overthink. What if he doesn't like the message in the beginning? What if he think it's extra? What if he thinks it's cringy?

Jinyoung presses play and the tape rolls silently, then Daehwi's voice comes in. He was talking about how much he loves Jinyoung and how much he means to him. In the tape, his voice performed some kind of short essay reading before saying that that was the intro for the song. After a soft, small chuckle, the first beat already resonates both of his ears.

Jinyoung got the feel of the song, the atmosphere, after hearing the first stanza. He takes in mind every word that was put down, every beat going through the rhythm, and the love and effort the composer has excerted—Daehwi's undying love, and the nights he has given up to finish this song.

He's smiling while nodding to the beat, holding both the headsets in place so they wouldn't fall off and destroy his moment. Upon arriving at the bridge of the song, he closes his eyes and just let himself get taken over by the rhythm, riding along the waves as if he's at the sea. The chorus then arrives and he got goosebumps from the note change and how Daehwi's voice beautifully collided with the variety of sounds. He listens intently to the lyrics, causing a lone tear to slip out without his knowledge.

Daehwi sees this and he falls into panick once again, but seeing the happy smile on his face, probably the happiest smile he has ever seen, he chooses to sit back and just watch the boy cry as he listens to his gift.

The song comes to a loop, the chorus of it repeating, and to Daehwi's suprise, Jinyoung hums along with, missing a few notes and tempo. The third line, however, Jinyoung completely sings along without any mistakes. He sings in a deep voice and Daehwi could tell he is harmonizing with his pre-recorded voice. He just smiles at him until a sudden wave of chills coats his whole body.

He realizes that this is it, the missing part of his song. The emptyness and dullness he felt after listening to his song is no longer there because Jinyoung, he is the final piece of the gift, his voice is the final ingredient for the perfect song.  
  
Daehwi figures Jinyoung has already finished the song because he removes the ear bud one by one. He sees his eyes glistening with what he suspects as unshed tears while smiling affectionately at him.

"Thank you. Thank you so much," he leans in for a hug and Daehwi catches him. "Thank you for existing and being part of my life," he continues and Daehwi smiles with his eyes closed, absorbing and memorizing  each and every detail of this memory. He wants to keep this scene forever in his mind.

Jinyoung pulls away and grins at him again, which Daehwi returns with his signature smile.

"Hyung, I'd like to thank you too, for being with me on the road, whether it's a flowery road or a thorny road," he sqeaks out, voice clearer than the water of Han river. He means each and every single one of those words, he really does. Jinyoung, he's been there for him ever since the beginning. He's been there on his happy and sad moments.

Jinyoung coos at him, "Aw... You're welcome, Hwi. You're very much welcome,"

Daehwi only smiles at him as the words travel to his heart. He could feel the emotion from his very words and it's fascinating.

All that's left is asking Jinyoung if he could sing the song, the one Daehwi composed, so that it's a duo instead of only one voice singing it, but... He's shy and a tiny bit embarassed to ask about it. Yes, he's his boyfriend but still, it's quite embarassing to ask him about that.

Jinyoung senses Daehwi looking uncomfortable so he takes the initiative to ask him what's wrong, "Hwi? Is something bothering you?"

Daehwi shakes his head, disagreeing.

"Then, what's wrong?" He asks again, tone laced in concern and just a pint of confusion.

The boy sighs, well, if he asked so nicely, might as well tell him. And so Daehwi pushes everything he's shy of and just goes directly to the point.

"Would it be too much t-to ask if we could make the song a duo? Because I sincerely think it sounds better with both of our voices blending together rathen than my plain, bland voice but I do understand if you don't like—"

He chuckles, cutting him off, "Of course, I will," he stops him from his rambling and holds his hands inside his, safely, "You know I'll do everything for you, right?"

Daehwi's heart explodes inside his chest and all hair on his body perks up at those last set of words. His heart keeps on thumping and jumping inside his ribcage as those words leaves his mouth. At that moment, all things become a blur and only Jinyoung is in focus, it's as if the world becomes this sort of whirlwind with only Jinyoung clear in his view. He sees nothing but him and his silly grin and at that moment, Daehwi has lost his attention on his face and is now on his lips, his small lips. They smell like cherry, the scent of it lingering even when he's meters apart from those devilish lips. He gulps as the urge to just press their lips together rises higher and higher. When that one tiny bud of sweat trickles down to his face, he goes for it—he holds the boy's small head inside his hands and tilts his head to the side as he presses their lips together. As soon as the contact happens, it's as if Daehwi is electricuted, there's just this sudden flow of electricity, a spark, flowing in his veins, along with his blood. His heart's thumping becomes louder and stronger when the lips kisses back, just as affectionately as Daehwi's, and when he feels two, big hands sitting atop of his. Sparks and fireworks, he feels them inside him, in his chest, in his heart, as the kiss grows longer. He might be mistaken but he feels it in his lungs, as well, but maybe that's just the lack of air. He smiles sincerely in between the kiss when Jinyoung's words once again travel inside his thoughts.

_Oh, I know. I know you will. And I'll do everything for you too._

**Author's Note:**

> aye you finished it! congrats! comments and kudos are always appreciated; they drive me to write more fics hihi.


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